Online supported learning and threshold concepts in novice programming
Novice programming is a challenging subject to both the students and the educators. Students struggle to comprehend the methods, and educators try their best to put forth the subject in an understandable manner. This paper presents two methods implemented to support the learning for students in...
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2017
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1739/ http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1739/1/Sim%20TY%20online-supported-learning.pdf |
| Summary: | Novice programming is a challenging subject to
both the students and the educators. Students struggle to
comprehend the methods, and educators try their best to put
forth the subject in an understandable manner. This paper
presents two methods implemented to support the learning
for students in a novice programming class. They are social
network support and online journaling. The threshold
concepts for computing are also discussed. Data collected
through the online journaling method provides an indicator
to the possible threshold concepts in novice programming
subject. The impacts of the methods are evaluated using
analysis of questionnaires responds, entries to the social
networking support platform, online journaling method, and
students’ grade. The conclusion of this study are 1) the
social support network helps students to work on the subject content, and 2) students who post on the platform have a significantly better grade. The conclusion drawn for the online journaling are 1) students who actively participated are scoring better grade in the class, and 2) online journaling method also confirms that one of the main thresholds for novice programming class is the object oriented concept. Apart from Memory and Object Oriented Programming, Multidimensional array and Methods are another two topics identified as threshold concepts for novice programming. |
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